


Take Me Away to Better Days

by ellewrites



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst, Canon Compliant, Multi, Not A Fix-It, Not A Happy Ending, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Pre-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Threesome - F/M/M, Vibrators, lakehouse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-06-22 05:53:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19661170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellewrites/pseuds/ellewrites
Summary: Bruce hadn’t wanted to become Tony’s weekend boyfriend, but he had become their weekend partner, and to his surprise he was completely okay with that. He couldn’t shut himself out, the way Tony had – but he couldn’t deny that he wanted this too.





	Take Me Away to Better Days

**Author's Note:**

> My first fill for Rarepair Bingo! The prompt was "Lakehouse." I promise I'm going more out of my comfort zone on the others haha but this was just a particularly trying prompt. Tony had to be involved and it had to be relatively canon-compliant in my mind so this is where I went.

The first time Bruce had been to the lake house, he had been invited by Pepper in person. 

His relationship with Tony had always been tumultuous and mostly based on Tony’s relationship with Pepper. But after his return from Sakaar, Tony and Pepper had been stronger than ever, and though with everything that happened Bruce really wanted to just bury himself in Tony and forget the world for a couple days, the way they used to – he stayed away. So the last thing he expected was for  _ Pepper _ to come to  _ him _ . 

Bruce had been staying in the Avengers facility, staring blankly at walls, unsure exactly what he was supposed to do. For the first time, his mind was drawing a blank. He ran data on global population stats, spent some time with Nat and Steve discussing next steps, but what could they really  _ do _ ? Nothing. 

And then Pepper drove down from upstate and asked him to come, to see Tony. Tony hadn’t slept in days and Pepper wasn’t even sure he knew she’d left and she didn’t know what to do, she needed help and... Bruce didn’t really know what  _ he _ could do. He was useless on the battlefield and he was useless here, he really didn’t think he was going to be much help.

The car ride was awkward and Pepper spoke haltingly about their renovations to the cabin, about things that had happened when he was off world and literally out of his mind, and Bruce stared out the window watching the scenery change wondering what in the hell he was doing. 

When they got there Tony was pale, his eyes sunken in and bloodshot to hell and he was slamming a tool angrily into a piece of equipment, cursing at it as it broke beneath his harsh ministrations, and even though Bruce had seen him strung out on alcohol and no sleep before he’d never seen him like  _ this _ . This angry. This out of control. This... pathetic. 

“Tony.” 

His voice was soft, non-judgmental – simply an acknowledgement that he was there – and Tony eyes snapped over to him like he’d heard a ghost and when they met... Tony physically collapsed. 

Bruce didn’t say anything else. He just took his hand and led him upstairs to where he found a half furnished bedroom and he lay him down on the uncovered mattress and Tony buried his face in his chest and sobbed. 

It wasn’t that Pepper wasn’t there for Tony or that he didn’t trust her or... whatever. Bruce knew that. It was just that Bruce understood it in a way she couldn’t. She always thought Tony put too much on himself, took on too much personal responsibility. But Bruce understood. He understood the feeling of hopelessness, of frustration, of gut-wrenching devastation, the guilt, and Bruce cried too as he held him in his arms, stroking his hair, his back, his neck until he finally, finally fell asleep.

He left before Tony woke up. Pepper messaged him that Tony slept fourteen hours straight, thanking him, telling him to come back any time. But Bruce blew it off and ignored her blanket invitation... until she sent a car with an invitation to dinner. 

It started off a little awkward. Tony clearly needed something but he wouldn’t be clear about it until the conversation shifted tentatively to the past, to when they met, to those first few months when they had won and things were as good as they’d ever been and all their frustrations seemed so stupid and petty. 

Bruce spent the night that night – drunk and laughing, reminiscing about the past, watching the fire smolder and holding Tony’s hand but that was it. It was just a friendly thing, a needy thing, and nothing more. Bruce knew it couldn’t be anything more. It wouldn’t be. 

But then Pepper sent another car. And another. It became a standing date on Friday night that he almost expected, could have expected if he let himself believe it, and he would pack a bag and while he spent the weeks helping Nat set up global monitoring systems, he spent the weekends helping Tony set up tech consoles and perimeter security. It became easy. It became routine. It became more than that. 

Bruce held Tony’s heavy dick in his hand as he fucked him deep, bent over on his knees, wanting every inch of it. Tony loved being fucked like that, hard and rough and punishing, in a way that left Bruce’s fingerprints bruised into his hips – in a way Pepper couldn’t.

And Pepper loved watching him get fucked, positioned between his arms on the bed, watching his face contort in pleasure, the muscles in his arms straining to hold himself up, and she stroked Tony’s hair as he kissed across her chest, her thighs, a vibrator against her pussy, staving it off as long as possible. 

It was Pepper who approached him, told him Tony wanted him. Told him their relationship was at a point where she wasn’t willing to say no again, not now, after they had both lost so much. That maybe they could figure something out. Maybe they could compromise. 

Bruce turned the car away the next weekend. He needed time to think. But really what he’d needed was to talk himself down. What did she mean, compromise? He didn’t want to be Tony’s weekend boyfriend. The whole world was falling apart and they wanted to do this interpersonal bullshit now? It seemed silly and ridiculous. 

Tony was moaning loudly, knowing both his partners loved to hear it, and it made Bruce’s abs clench. He paused and smacked his ass, hard, for being a tease, and Tony bit out a breathy laugh as Bruce grinned down affectionately at him. His eyes met Pepper’s across Tony’s body and they shared a knowing look. This was better. It was weird sometimes but it was better. It was so much better. 

Pepper and Tony had come down with the car the next weekend and what was Bruce supposed to do? He got in the car. He hadn’t even packed himself a bag but he got in the car and Pepper said a gorgeous little spiel of all the right words about sharing and how it would work and even if he didn’t want her involved on his end she would be okay and Bruce just sat there with a lead weight on his tongue, having no idea what to do. But Tony was looking at him with this real soft, real sad face and what Bruce wanted to do was hold him. Hold him and kiss him and make them both feel better, the way he knew he could. 

Dinner was as normal as it was going to be, both Tony and Pepper trying to keep the conversation light while not-so-subtly trying to read how he felt about what she’d said earlier. But he didn’t know how he felt. It was too big an ask. Only a few months ago he was trapped in another body and when he came back it was to mass genocide on Earth and now he was supposed to be negotiating a threesome with his best friend and his best friend’s fiancee? It seemed so stupid. They needed to figure their shit out themselves. 

But then he moved in next to Tony to take a dish from him, drying them as Tony washed, as he always did. And Tony kissed him as he handed him the plate. Bruce wasn’t expecting it but it wasn’t some long, drawn out thing. It was just a little kiss, a brush against his lips – a confirmation, recognition. It was just like them holding hands watching the fire. And Bruce couldn’t help the warm feeling it gave him as he stood there with a dishtowel in his hands, drying plates. Maybe it made sense, he thought. Maybe he was thinking too hard. 

Tony put one of his hands over Bruce’s as he jerked him off. He’d always liked to feel it. And Bruce’s other hand traveled across Tony’s chest to one hard nipple, rolling it in his fingers. He’d given up on hard thrusts, moving shallowly, hips jerking weakly back into him, knowing that he was close but wanting Tony to come first, wanting to feel the way his body constricted around his dick, wanting to hear him whimper and moan. It got him off every time. 

Pepper had slid down beneath him, her knees at Tony’s hips, her feet at Bruce’s knees, and she had one hand wrapped around his neck, kissing him. Bruce had never had much interest in being the center of attention that way, but imagining how Tony must feel, must relish in it? It was difficult not to let it go to his dick. 

Bruce hadn’t wanted to become Tony’s weekend boyfriend, but he had become their weekend partner, and to his surprise he was completely okay with that. He couldn’t shut himself out, the way Tony had. He had to stay at the facility, had to try working with Nat and Steve, trying to solve  _ something _ , trying to protect what was left. But he couldn’t deny that he wanted this too. Seeing their faces when the car pulled up and he walked in, both of them smiling and happy to see him, hugging him, welcoming him in... It was a good feeling, something different than the constant disappointment he faced Monday through Friday. 

Sex notwithstanding, he also just... enjoyed them. Enjoyed their company and their banter and how completely removed from it they were. Not that Tony didn’t dip low or that they never talked about the snap or... whatever. Just that they had created a sense of harmony for themselves out here as well as they could and it was a much needed respite for someone in the thick of it. 

It was a much needed respite for Bruce. 

Bruce knew Tony was going to cum before he did. He could feel it in his dick, hear it in the way his moans started getting real low, see it in how he reached for Pepper, pulling her hair in an attempt to get at her neck and drag her closer. And he buried his head in her neck as he came hard against her stomach, coating her in it, making her throw back her head and moan as well as she pressed the vibrator back against her clit to cum with him. 

But Bruce watched both his partners, only letting himself jerk his hips forward the remaining few times it took for him to get off as well when he knew they were both satisfied. And when he finally came it felt so good, so fucking good because he had given that to them, had given them something they couldn’t give themselves, and every time he was grateful that it was him, that he got to experience this with them. 

He fell into bed beside Tony, throwing his arm over his chest, fingertips brushing Pepper’s arm. And she smiled over at him, settling her body into the pillow beneath her, completely undisturbed by being covered in Tony’s cum. For his part Tony just basked in their attention, a dumb smile on his face, eyes closed, breathing shallow, and Bruce was happy for him. 

Tony wasn’t always the center of attention in their sexual exploits but he truly  _ was _ the center of attention for both of them and he appreciated it more than either of them and really, Bruce was okay with that. Pepper seemed to be too. 

“My boys,” she mumbled out contentedly as she kissed Tony’s cheek and slid her fingers through Bruce’s, holding his hand.

He knew Pepper would get up in a few minutes to shower and he would be left to cuddle into Tony’s pliant body and fall asleep with him for an hour or so, forgetting the whole world outside these walls for a little while. He’d gotten better at it, over the years. Focusing on what he could actually do and not every problem in existence. But still, after the snap, it had been hard. Tony and Pepper, though – they made it better. 

She kissed his fingers gently and Tony sighed, turning his face towards him, nosing his nose and kissing the side of his mouth, getting his attention, forcing him to crack open his heavy eyelids. 

“We have something to tell you,” Pepper said quietly and instantly Bruce felt his adrenaline spike. 

Now, compared to most people, he was particularly in tune with himself and his heart rate and his adrenaline and a whole host of other things so to his credit he was able to lay there, still, calm, like he wasn’t suddenly feeling trapped and anxious... but he was. They never talked after sex. Never. Even their likes and dislikes and Tony’s sometimes entirely embarrassing play by plays were discussed at dinner, where they had some privacy, some facade of a wall built between each other. Whatever they had to say now, it had to be bad. 

“Pep’s pregnant.”

Whatever Bruce was expecting them to say – it wasn’t that. He actually blinked and scrunched up his nose in confusion. 

“How?” 

It was a dumb question born out of sheer shock and confusion and Tony chuckled at him.

“Well, son, when a man and a woman care about each other very much –” 

Bruce grumbled and kneed him in the hip and Pepper laughed. 

“We weren’t being very careful,” Pepper admitted slowly, obviously self-conscious about the shitty admission, not that it made Bruce feel any better. “But we also  _ knew _ we weren’t being very careful.”

“We’re pretty old,” Tony grinned, trying to cut the tension a little, “in case you failed to notice the gray and my abysmal recycle time.”

Bruce rolled his eyes, Tony’s sense of humor doing nothing to minimize the feeling of betrayal. 

“Honestly I didn’t really expect it to happen. With advanced maternal age and all that, making it out of the first trimester is –”

“No reason to be negative,” Pepper cut him off, obviously a little wounded as he tried in vain to make peace between both his partners.

But then Bruce spoke up, offering him an out. They’d made it easy for him, he could make it easy for them. 

“I’m happy for you,” he lied, wishing it were the truth.

She squeezed his fingers and sat up on her elbow, smiling over at him, slipping her hand from his to run her fingers down his face affectionately. But his eyes fell to her stomach as she stood. It seemed impossible to believe that there was a baby was in there. Despite reaching the ripe old age of forty-eight, he never had acquired much experience with babies or pregnancy outside of a medical context. And while it was true once he had wanted more than that – and sometimes still did – this wasn’t it. Not like this. It immediately drove a wedge between him and them that he wasn’t entirely sure they felt but that was a very real, tangible thing for him. 

Pepper made her way to the shower and Tony shifted in Bruce’s arms, kissing him but it was over and Bruce couldn’t kiss him back. Tony would have known anyway. He had to know. 

“It doesn’t have to change anything,” Tony murmured, searching his eyes, but Bruce wasn’t in the mood for placating bullshit and he huffed a sigh and turned over. 

“It will change everything,” he muttered petulantly, the only thing he was willing to say on the subject. 

For his part Tony scootched towards him, slipping his legs between his, wrapping his arm around his chest, nuzzling his nose into the back of his ear and kissing his neck. 

“Yeah, eventually,” he admitted, soft, in his ear. “But you know how I feel about you has never changed and it never will.”

It was nice to hear but it didn’t mean anything. Bruce knew it didn’t mean anything. Half the world was gone and they wanted to play family in the woods with Bruce as some comical and unnecessary third wheel? What he was doing with Nat was important – really important and – 

“And Pep agrees,” Tony continued, “we both want you involved to whatever degree you feel comfortable. She cares a lot about you, too. We both do.”

Unfortunately what Tony didn’t realize was the degree to which Bruce felt comfortable with that was zero.

But he didn’t say it. Instead he put his hand over Tony’s, stroking his knuckles. The knuckles of hands that built so much, that touched so much – that touched him and held him – but failed to build what he needed to protect the planet and the people he loved. And he deserved this, this little bit of happiness, of normalcy. A wife and a baby and... and everything Bruce had wanted when he was younger. Tony deserved that. Deserved a normal life without Bruce and the Hulk hovering over him, needing him, distracting him from it. 

“I care about you too,” he said, so softly he was sure Tony didn’t hear it over his breathing and the shower running but... it was true. He cared enough to know when it was time for him to go.

Tony sighed into his neck as his body began to relax, verging on sleep, but Bruce laid there for a long time, feeling his chest tucked up tight against him, his heart beating soft against his back, feeling whole here, feeling loved. Letting himself trace the feeling of Tony’s skin against his until he memorized it because he knew when the car came next weekend he wasn’t getting in it. He wasn’t coming back here ever again.


End file.
